Devotional messages, prayers, and other thoughts will be posted here frequently

Thursday, March 13, 2008

LOVE THE WORD (Dwight Lyman Moody)

All the historical things are told in the way that we know the world had of looking at them when they were written. People very often think that science is all fact and that religion is only fancy. A great many persons think the stars around us are inhabited, but they cannot bring themselves to believe that there is a life beyond this earth for immortal souls.

The true Christian puts faith before reason and believes that reason always goes wrong when faith is set aside. If people would but read their Bibles more, and study what there is to be found there about heaven, they would not be as worldly minded as they are. They would not have their hearts set upon things down here but would seek the imperishable things above.

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." (1 Cor 2:9)

Use of Metaphorical Language in Romans:The way we use language is critical in spiritual formation.Jesus, of course, is THE Word. Language, one of the defining characteristics of being human, is integral to the way God reveals and works. It follows that the WAY we use language, not simply THAT we use it, is significant.

The way Paul uses language in Romans is to load it with metaphor, a practice he learned from the Hebrew prophets before him. There is hardly a paragraph in this letter without a metaphor.

Metaphor does not so much define or label: it expands, forcing the mind into participating action.....What metaphor does is force our mind into action to find meaning at another level, engaging the imagination to look for relationships and resonances that tell us more than any literal description ever could. We cannot be passive before a metaphor. We must imagine and enter into it. Metaphor enlists us in a believing, obeying, living participation..........(Again, my mind goes back to Disciple 1....Thank you, Terry.)

Paul uses words not to define, but to evoke......Paul's language is a Living Energy Field.......This is language Alive, Expressing and Forming our lives from the inside out. Spiritual formation requires this lively, participatory language.(The Renovare' Spiritual Formation Bible....The With-God Life)

Ever-active God, thank You for Your Living Word. Thank You for Paul who writes of Living Participation....Living Energy! We see this in Jesus and the Way He came to show us....We live it Now with the help of Your Holy Spirit. Such Grace given freely! Thank You, God! Amen.